Player One Neptune-C (IMX178) 6.4MP USB3.0 Color Camera Planetary Camera for Lunar & Meteor Imaging

Player One Neptune-C (IMX178) 6.4MP USB3.0 Color Camera Planetary Camera for Lunar & Meteor Imaging


The Neptune series is a 1/2-inch format planetary camera series for the top players. It is larger than 1/3-inch and has a higher resolution. Thus, it is more suitable for astronomy enthusiasts.

The main hit of the Neptune series is Neptune-C II. We directly released the second-generation Neptune model on the grounds that the plan could not keep up with the changes.

Beside the brightest star Neptune-C II, we also grandly launch other two highly praised models, namely Neptune-C and Neptune-M.



Product Description:
Neptune-C is a planetary camera which adopts the IMX178 1/1.8" format sensor for Sony. The 2.4um pixel size accommodates a well depth of 15ke with a total of 6.4MP (the resolution is 3096*2078), and the diagonal is 9mm.

Neptune-C (IMX178 color sensor) does not need to highlight its infrared sensitivity (compared with the IMX464 infrared sensitivity. The point of the IMX178 is very low). So, we put an UV IR-cut protective glass in Neptune-C, returning you a pure true color world.


Highlights:
With a 1/1.8 inch sensor, the Neptune series is very suitable for sun and moon mosaic photography.

Connecting the Neptune-C camera to a telescope with an 1.25" T-Mount, or adding a Barlow lens between the camera and a telescope to extend the focal length for more details.


When a CS lens is attached on the Neptune-C camera, it can be used as an all-day camera or meteor monitoring camera.


Features:
The naming of Player One astronomy cameras is unique. For example, we name the planetary cameras after planets (They are Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Earth is not included). The size of each planet, to a certain extent, represents the size of camera sensors. We will name Saturn with a 1-inch sensor camera, and for Neptune, we will named it with a 1/1.8 inch senor camera. All names will be engraved on the housing of the cameras.


Download drivers and software: http://player-one-astronomy.com/service/software/
Download manuals: http://player-one-astronomy.com/service/manuals/

Cutting-edge Design
The planetary camera uses a scientific and technological regular hexagon to construct the main body line, supplemented by round chamfers to achieve both rigidity and flexibility. The positive red, which is like a summer fire, is matched with the low-key and steady black. And the super-fine frosting process on the entire surface makes the camera look luxurious and cool, highlighting the style of high-end players.


2nd Gen - Sensor Tilt Plate
The built-in high-density sponge shading pad can block the light from the side slits without any side leakage.

When you are taking solar photographs with a prominence telescope, the Newton ring will be annoying. Smoother solar image without Newton ring could be taken by adjusting the focal plate. Get a much smaller field curvature of the telescope.

256M DDR3 Cache
Among planetary cameras in the world, Player One astronomy camera is the first one to adopt the DDR3 cache. It helps stabilize and secure data transmission, effectively avoids frame dropping and greatly reduces read noise.

With the DDR3 cache, the camera does not have high demands on computing any longer. But it still has an excellent performance even if it is connected to a USB 2.0 port.

DPS Technology
The planetary camera has DPS (Dead Pixel Suppression) technology. The DPS can analyze many dark frames to find out those fixed abnormal pixels and record the map in camera memory. In imaging, each exposure frame and those positions of dead pixels will be given a median value according to the active pixels around the abnormal pixels.


Over-voltage and Over-current Protection Mechanisms
The camera ensures the safety of your camera and other equipment through over-voltage and over-current protection mechanisms.

Data Port
When the camera is connected to the USB3.0 interface and full-resolution preview is used, it can reach 93 FPS in RAW8 mode (10bit ADC). When it is recording images, the actual writing speed will be affected by the writing speed of the hard disk itself. When the hard disk writing speed is slow, the recording may not reach the theoretical speed. It is recommended that you use a high-quality solid state drive to record data to give full play to the performance of the camera.

Use an ST4 guide cable to connect the camera and the AUTO GUIDE port of the equatorial mount to do guiding.


Performance:


Readout Noise
Regarding readout noise, we solemnly promise that all values are obtained from actual tests. You can use the software for Sharpcap 4 to test. SC4 has a function called Sensor Analysis, providing a very simple way to test readout noise.

We wrote a tutorial on website: https://player-one-astronomy.com/service/manuals/

After many rigorous readout noise tests, the Neptune-C camera can reach a low readout noise of 1.34e at a gain of 350.

If you are interested in readout noise testing, you can try it by yourselves because it is very simple.

QE Curve


HCG Mode
The Neptune camera has a unique HCG mode, which will automatically turn on when the camera gain setting is >30. The HCG mode can greatly reduce the readout noise and retain the same high dynamic range as the low gain.

Mechanical Drawing:

Package Included:
- 1 x Camera and 1.25" T-mount
- 1 x 2M USB3.0 cable
- 1 x 2M ST4 cable
- 1 x 1.25" dust-proof cover
- 1 x Air blower
- 1 x M2 wrench
- 3 x M1.2 wrenches

Packaging Details:
- G.W.: 0.75kg